Lift Line Landmarks

People travel from all over the world to ski here in the Colorado Rocky Mountains... so I thought it would be fun to play a little game I created called “Lift Line Landmarks”. I discovered that it's easier to play if you are skiing alone, which I like to do. The game requires gathering information from the strangers that join you on the chair lift or share your table at lunch. The object of the game is to try to check off all 50 states... the checks indicate that you have met someone from that state. After only a few days, I have 8 states checked and have added 2 countries to the list.

There's the grandma from Vermont skiing with her 2 sons and their families, the college kids from Nebraska on break who drove 10 hours to get here, the guy stricken with altitude sickness from Florida who upchucked right over the edge of the chair, the father and son from New Jersey who owned a condo in Ocean City, Md, the firefighter from Texas who left the 80 degree weather for the cold white blanket of snow, the 30-something buddies from Arkansas who had frozen chunks of ice in their short beards, the lady from California in the lodge moving her sleeping toddler from bench to bench while he napped, the boarders from Brazil and Priya's ski school instructor from Argentina with a heavy accent.

Perhaps the most memorable though was a little girl from Illinois. She was just a wee bit older than Priya... maybe 7 or 8 and she was headed up the lift with her ski school just in front of us. As it turns out, her ski got stuck on the gate and so her 3 ski schoolmates made it on the chair, but she was left behind to ride with a couple of strangers. Being a real beginner, this was her first time on a high-speed quad chair and her first time to the TOP of the mountain. As soon as the chair took off from the loading area... she was visibly shaken and started to comment on how fast the chair was traveling and how high we were above the trees. She was filled with a nervous excitement that made her talk, talk and, did I mention, talk. All the way up she was chattering about something or the other while Bartee and I tried to calm her worries about the speed of the chair and what to do when it reaches the top. She was so adorable and I just soaked in the freshness of her experience.

I Miss My Bumblebee

This week has been trying for us in many ways, but the one who is suffering the most is Sanjay. It is Sanjay's first time in a full day childcare situation... and he's not just dipping his toes in, he's getting fully soaked. In order for us to take advantage of the full week skiing, we arranged for him to attend the local preschool 4 days this week. By the second day, it was a little tough on us as well... and as we were driving back from skiing at Vail, Daddy says, “I miss my Bumblebee”. This elicited a response from Priya that we've come to expect... complete and utter jealousy. She wants Daddy to miss her, too... and just as much if not more than he misses Sanjay. So, she suggests that “tomorrow I'll ski with Mommy all day so that you'll miss me”. And, her voice was serious and downhearted as the words came out.

When she acts this way, there's nothing I can do to avoid seeing myself in her. This particular incident reminds me of a time in elementary school when my sister broke her arm and seeing all the attention she was getting, I really wished that I too had a broken limb. Ugh... all the bad things. Why do they have to mimic and adopt all the poor habits and behaviors? Granted, my personality is quite flawed so there's a lot to choose from. I only wish that the things I want to change about myself (if I hadn't been practicing them now for nearly 40 years), I could at least hide from my children.